But what happened after that demonstrates why Martinez, a 16-year-old junior, has managed to become one of the state's top freestyle swimmers despite her debilitating respiratory disease.

"I actually won the race," she said with a laugh. "It was really scary. I was crying in the pool. But I couldn't stop. I couldn't let myself stop. I guess I'm just stubborn."

Martinez, who developed asthma four years ago, has relied on that stubborn determination to help fuel her rocket ride to the top of the Central Coast Section rankings.

It hasn't taken her long to get there, either.

In her freshman year, Martinez won the 200 freestyle and 500 freestyle events at sectionals, then last year won in the 200 freestyle again, but got a "disappointing" second-place finish in the 500 freestyle.

Her 2004 time in the 200 -- 1 minute, 50.02 seconds -- earned her a fifth-place ranking statewide at the end of last season and helped her snag an invitation to the summer U.S. Olympic Trials in Long Beach.

And despite her asthma -- she has since had two other major attacks in the pool -- in the first week of this month, Martinez competed in U.S.A. Swimming's 2005 World Championship Trials in Indianapolis.

Although she didn't reach the finals in any of her events there -- 100 and 200 butterfly and the 200 backstroke -- she had previously notched personal-record times that would have bumped her into the finals. She chalks it up to a bad meet and prefers not to discuss it.

"I did bad -- my times were just really slow," she said. "I'm a really competitive person, and I don't like to lose. It really bothers me when I do."

Amber Hovey, a teammate of Martinez on the De Anza Cupertino Aquatics club team, said Martinez's competitive streak has inspired her to push her own times lower.

The Princeton-bound Homestead High senior finished last season ranked third in the state in the 100-yard butterfly and 11th in the 200-yard individual medley, but swam her last races of the season at the World Championship Trials. Now she is recovering from a back injury sustained in a car accident.

Nevertheless, she says Martinez's influence on her over the past eight years has been of paramount importance.

"I don't know if I would have made it as far as I have without her," Hovey said. "Both of us have just pushed each other to the level that we're at. She's also laid-back, and that has made me enjoy swimming more than I would have otherwise."

Martinez not only is laid-back but is shy and modest to a fault.

Ask her about winning two CCS titles her freshman year. She barely responds.

"That was really exciting," she says.

Ask her about winning a second consecutive 200-yard freestyle CCS title her sophomore year. She'll discuss the 500-yard race she lost.

"I was a little disappointed in the 500, that I didn't improve very much from the year before," she says. "I don't really like to brag. I don't really like to talk about that stuff."

But ask her about her shortcomings -- such as her subpar performance at the World Championship Trials -- and she'll rattle on for days.

"That was my least-favorite moment in swimming -- at the world trials in the 200 fly," she said. "I was like five seconds off my best time, and I knew I could have done a lot better. If I had done my best time, I would have made it back into the finals."

Martinez acknowledges that she's hard on herself, but insists that it helps her keep her edge.

Matt Rudy, Martinez's coach at Evergreen Valley, says her reticence speaks volumes about her maturity and dedication to the sport.

"She's a very competitive person, but she's quiet, and you'll never hear any boasting from her," said Rudy, who describes Martinez as having an "effortless" style combined with a "tremendous amount of natural talent." "She's shy and withdrawn and internally focused, and to be that good, obviously you have to be internally motivated. She has that."

Martinez says her goals for the season are to make a run at a third straight CCS title in the 200 freestyle, and switching to the 100-yard backstroke for her second sectional event.

In addition to the asthma, Martinez also is battling tendinitis in her right shoulder, a recurring injury that has flared up again this season. She's also just getting over a flu bug that knocked her out intermittently for two months.

And if she needed any more stress, she's still nursing a bruised ego from the world trials.

"I'm hopeful -- I know I can do better than what I have done this season," she said. "Because I've put in the work, it just hasn't shown yet.

"That's why I'm really excited about CCS -- it's going to be really important for me. Winning that would just prove to me that I still am a good swimmer. I think I'm good, but I don't think I'm that great. That would make the season -- the year -- a whole lot better."

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